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I Hear People That Kill People
By SonnyLong in The Write Stuff
March 17, 2012

Image Well, technically the headline for this blog is inaccurate. I read the words of convicted killers. Mailed to me from prison. In this case, Kevin Hailey and his mother Kathy Weaver. Both are locked up for a long time for different murders and I am sharing their words for the first time in my new book "Among Murderers and Madness."
Twenty years ago, on March 19, 1992, Hailey was first arrested in connection with the murders of an East Texas woman and her young two daughters (pictured). He spent less than three months in jail before being released on a lowered bond. Later that year the charges were dropped when a grand jury refused to indict him. In 2007, 15 years after the crime and after new evidence was developed, Hailey was indicted for the murders and in 2009 agreed to a plea, admitting guilt in the death of Gerri Faye Butts, 29, but not her two children, Jessica, 11, and Mackenzie, 2. Now in exclusive correspondence with me from prison for “Among Murderers and Madness,” Hailey maintains his innocence despite the plea agreement. “I did what I did because I felt it was the only way to save my life,” Hailey told me. The death penalty was taken off the table by the prosecution as part of the plea agreement. “I did not kill Jessica, Mackenzie or Gerri. Plea bargain or not, I know the truth and regardless of my situation, my conscience is clear,” Hailey wrote. The new book is not only about the murder of the Butts family, but also the cast of characters that emerge along the way of the 20-year-old case, some good, some bad, some even bizarre. Those characters include Weaver, now serving time for the murder of her husband. Weaver’s letters to me, beginning at the time of the Butts murders in 1992 through her own murder case and her existence in prison with a 60-year sentence reveal a dark and disturbing personality. And you will read them only in "Among Murderers and Madness." The book is now available on Amazon.com and CreateSpace. com.
My first book signing is scheduled for Saturday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Hastings in Victoria, 5206 N. Navarro St. Come on out. Buy a book. Get it signed. And see what the killers have to say. I'll let you judge their words.